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Topic: Best way to make a Dove Tail (Read 2220 times)

I am starting to incorporate some finished products in my business..One of the products I want to make will require a dovetail run length ways on a planed 4x4 I'm thinking a 1" dovetail...I need someway that I can run several thousand lineal feet at time

More good questions.,.... I guess what I want to know no is what piece of equipment and or tooling should I buy to do this.... I'm thinking a normal routor wouldn't hold up long. I'm am going to do this in Cedar....Would a shaper be the best way or a overhead type routor or a bit in a drill press ... Or is there a better way ?

So...... to summarize.... I am going to make a Dovetail type joint running the length of a 4x4 that will then be cut to length.... the Dovetail will be having a 5/4x6 piece inserted into it hopefully with matching angles.... I want to know what is the best piece of equipment to buy to make these matching joints..... and possibly a brand that would be recommended.... I am hoping to be doing this on a seasonal high production type level...

Hopefully you have made some trial runs to test the strength of what you are going to make, before investing a lot into the equipment end. Several passes on a table saw will make the dovetails to test.

Strength of a dovetail along the grain isn't very good as wood splits easily.

A drawing of what you have in mind will help visualize the intent here. Not sure I fully understand what the plan is, but a drawing will help sort some of that out for others as well. And others may have experience doing this and can offer good advice.

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south central Wisconsin It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

I would try a Delta 3HP shaper or similar with a router bit spindle. They were a accessory with the Delta. You would probably have to get a custom router bit made but there are folks that do things like that. I don't know if you could feed it fast enough for production but it might be a place to start.

You might also call a few shops that make custom tooling and machines for there ideas. Try Bobby at Woodworkers Tool Works first and also try G G Schmidt. Those guys are the real experts.

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Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

From a production standpoint I would see if you could make the dovetail using a moulder. You would need to run the board through vertically and cut the tenon with cutters from each side.

Cutting the mortise is another challenge though, as I don't see a way to do so with a moulder. A router table would be the tool of choice for smaller (non production) use, but I'm not sure how well it would work hogging out a mortise that's 1" wide. Since it's in cedar, it may be ok.

I'm not sure how to put a drawing on here..... But what I'm hoping to make is Raised Garden Beds with 4x4 corners and 5/4x6 sides...I would like to 5/4 x6 to slide into the 4x4.... I hope that helps.... I did look at shapers last week.....

Well there..... I operate a Cedar Mill .... I have just bought out most of the equipment from a Log Home manufacturer.... ie 4sided planer ,20" radial arm saw,16 " table saw,20" single sided planer ,16" jointer , and a vertical 8" band saw... Along with allot of miscellaneous carts ect.I have been a sawmill for 20 years and want to expand into some finished products.... The raised beds being one of them... I sell a huge amount of material for raised beds in the rough and think that if I can make a Kit I could sell even more... I've talked to several retailers around here and there is allot of interest in them .I want something that is simple to put together with no tools....and I suppose if there is another way to do this I would be open to ideas

That's the only way I can see being able to run it at a production rate. Even at that you'll have to design some kind of dust collection to keep the dove tail clean as you go, or you'll wind up with a hot cutter in a short distance.I like shapers, and it would probably be a lot less expensive to buy. But I think an over arm router would be a better choice for this project. Plus, it would be easier to design something to keep the saw dust out of the dove tail you're cutting.Another thing to consider is that the router bit will be cutting on both sides of the dado cut, which will make one side a climbing cut. That means you'll have to slow the feed rate down quite a bit. But if you feed the 4x4's through end to end you will have a lot of product at the end of the day.

Either way you go (shaper, or over arm router) you're going to need a good power feeder for production. You can run the male part of the dove tail with the same router bit to insure that the bevels are the same degrees.